Started off just renovating the interior, but now leading me into pulling the dash and airbox to clean the clogged evap.

Removed all the trim panels, the rubber flooring, and headliner. For every clip that broke off the a-pillar trim and quarter panel trim, I re-epoxied the clips back. For added measure I got some original gorilla glue and sort of filled in areas to better keep that area more sturdy.
Washed all trim panels
Reupholstered headliner. For club cab, if you buy 92"x60" of foam backed fabric, that will leave just enough to reupholster the visors. Haven't done the visors yet, but looks like the plastic clamshell type so fairly easy to reupholster without having to recut new hardboard (non plastic clamshell type visors)
Headliner cost: $50 fabric, $40 for two cans of 3M Headliner Adhesive. If you have a single cab, you can get by with one can. Extra set of hands is helpful, because once that foam backed fabric touches the headliner, if you need to reposition.. you WILL tear that foam off the fabric.
Shampooed and extracted all the seats. With the seats removed, I was able to clean spots that haven't been clean in two decades. Free... using supplies on hand. Used my deep green cleaning machine.
Four new speakers ~$200. Used budget Infinity speakers. Went with 6 1/2" round for front instead of 6x9. Bit better clarity but slightly less bass. 5 1/4" for rear. Don't have the premium sound package... just a basic ST.
Cleaned the rubber flooring and rinsed the icky padding. It also thunderstormed while I was drying it so it got a bit extra rinsing.
Rewired speakers (better wire) to just below the center console for an amp. Make a mounting board for the amp to bolt to the metal bracket where the seatbelt timer control module is attached. Used a cheapish Boss 400W amp for $65. Used 8gauge wire from the battery and a short 8gauge ground to the body. Had a lot of alternator noise so removed the amp and re-routed the speaker wires to the head unit (a 7" LCD googlemap/nav/bluetooth/carplay/android auto/backup cam/dashcam cheapo off amazon for $72). Like the head unit. Leaving the amp out until I fix the issue of the alternator noise in the line out (neither twisted pair cables nor non-twisted heavy duty Monster cables fixed the buzzing). My head unit doesn't have front/rear line out, so I can't adjust fader on the fly.. but can use the gain on the amp to properly set up the front and back.
Added sound deadening. Used 72sqft of Amazon Basics. Like the stuff. For a club cab, I was able to do 100% of roof, front doors inner and outer skins 100% coverage. Did about 90% on the rear cab wall. Did 75% on the rear quarter panel cavity where the rear speakers live. Was running out and did maybe 25% of the floor (will do 100% future project). Probably need 100sqft for 100% coverage (not including firewall)
Fixed my water leak at the back of the cab. On the inside rubber channel of the sliding glass window, there's some RTV that seals a little gap on each end of the channel. It had partially split away and was leaking. Removed the old RTV and added new. Also flushed out the clogged drain channels. There's several slot on the inside channel. Used a zip tie to poke in there and dislodge the crud that had built up. There's about 3 drains on the outside of the cab. Not visible you have to feel for them. Stuck a zip tie up those to remove the clogs there. Used a spray bottle with water and dish soap to flow water thru the drains while I was unclogging them. Now it drains awesomely.
For safe measure, removed the 3rd brake light and RTV'd that too.
As there's been several thunderstorms since I unclogged the drains and did the 3rd brake light... not a drop of water has leaked in from the back of the cab.
Also adding some 12V "barrel type" jacks to the rear cabin area so I can connect dash cams back there. Added a relay at the center console (using +12v ignition going to the seatbelt timer control module) and switching that 8gauge +12V I had wired the amp with. And added another fuse for the circuit going to the back cabin.


As I was assembling the interior and finish this project, I was really hot and decided to crank her up and run the AC. Oh.... no cooling. Pulled blower motor and inspected evap. Clogged. NEW PROJECT...

Recovered the r134a
Pulled dash and airbox
Cleaned evap.
Epoxied the broken plastic blend door coupler (fingers crossed)
Sanded blend door top pivot location - was seized up from corrosion and caused blend door couple to break.
Added new weatherstripping to condensate drain, heater core outlets, evap outlets.
Cleaned out airbox.
Used 1/8" thick EPDM weather stripping on the recirc/fresh air door. May block the fresh air at the port in the cowl, and keep it like that if I don't have fogging issues. May get Geno's cowl filters... or make my own weatherproof filter at the fresh air port inside the cowl.

Stopped there for the day because I needed to epoxy the blend door coupler and let it cure. Would be harder to screw down that actuator when the airbox is installed. Also had drilled the bottom of the accumulator to let the oil drain so I can measure how much I need to add as I'm using a new accumulator. Might do a youtube on cutting that sucker apart to show how it works. Less than 1oz drained out, so probably add 2-3oz, the standard amount for replacing accumulator (dessicant bag will retain some oil, too)

Posted this so far. Mainly rattling off about the interior projects, but towards the end I do go about recovering r134a if anyone wants to know the equipment involved. Recorded a little bit today, but not a lot. There's already plenty of videos on pulling the dash enough to remove the airbox. It's SUPER EASY and quick, compared to some trucks where it's a frigging ordeal (like GM trucks around same year as our 2nd gen Rams). Going to post later that seized top pivot of the blend door that breaks the plastic blend door coupler. Might also post my work on that recirc/fresh air vent weather stripping.

Anyone going to do any interior projects, ask if you want to know something while fresh on my mind.

 

They make metal ones here.
I had my hvac box out more times than I want to remember. Mainly because of inferior replacement parts.
I got some asphalt based stuff and did most of the interior. The roof got that plus some insulation(black truck). Definitely noticed the difference compared to stock.
What color did you get? The stock gray is unacceptable so mine had to be black. I made the mistake of assuming that the 54 inch stuff would fit. It does not for a club cab. You can modify the rear(under the arm rest) to fit 8" subs.

 

I got ... light gray. they have the Black option. Black would be really good for night driving to absorb stray incoming headlight beams.

Headliners are pretty stressful - no do overs. my neighbor had to go out of town so couldn't get me a hand. Should have waited so he could hold the fabric up while i smoothed it out. Harder to smooth to the contours solo. Accidently a bit of the fabric touched the headliner near the visor, no where near correct position so had to move (tearing the foam off). two creases behind each front door, and was a bit too stretched where the rear plastic nut attaches to the headliner, so I didn't press the nut all the way in.. looks ok.

Had to reset the blend door actuator position, rotor was wildly out of position. Working perfect. Got the airbox in, dash together, did remaining work under the hood, and gassed her up with 32oz and a bit of oil to replace what was in the accumulator I replaced.

Dodge service manual (and alldatadiy using info from the manual) has really pitiful A/C Performance Testing charts. My Sierra (same year, 1999) has awesome charts giving expected center vent temps for various outdoor temps (70F to 110F in 10 degree increments) AND humidity (20% to 80% in 10% increments). Dodge doesn't even mention humidity in performance testing. Like right now it's 80F and 70% humidity. GM chart shows my center vent should be 57F at idle, AC Max, high fan.

Guess I'll use GM's charts

Got 51.1F on my psychrometer. Curious how low it would go on low fan (lower heat load). 42.8F. Now I have a reference point to compare in the future.
Seems about like-new performance. I didn't replace anything other than the accumulator.

Oh. For grins, I looked at Dodge's evacuation procedures. "Go to 26 in hg". That's over 600,000 microns. Also showing testing with analog gauges (I guess because digital micron gauges weren't a thing in 1999). Vacuumed down, ah, a fair bit below 600k microns. Now to calculate the leak rate of 56% charge (18oz) over 26 years...2% a year

 

The trick is, take the cardboard backing out, lay it on the floor, spread you glue, then lay out the fabric. And yes, a second set of hands it pretty much a requirement.

 

Yeah, I removed my headliner from the truck. I wouldn't even think of doing it in the truck. Of course it's a pain, Have to remove the seats, trim etc to get it out. And it's not cardboard it's a thin molded fiber(glass)board. But they may have changed that through out the years. And if the existing headliner is bubbling or starting to fall you have to remove all the old fabric and foam before installing the new.

 

And with 2nd gen, you'll probably break off some of the metal clips securing the trim panels (a-pillar, quarter trim panel). Started with epoxy and then used original gorilla glue that foams up to reinforce the plastic around the clip. Like the dash, specifically engineered to not often break during dealer servicing in the warranty period
A 3ft screwdriver with a wide flat head tip and a guide to locate the clips hidden back there would let you get most off without stressing the plastic and breaking clips off. I had neither. On the 2dr club cab, there's no way to access the top rear clip that must be removed to get headliner out whether removing the quarter trim panel or just loosening it, gonna break.



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Got everything put back together except the instrument cluster bezel and glove box. Been JB Welding little pieces of the subdash to give the bezel something to clip to as well as the dash top being able to screw to the subdash. Had to JB Weld a metal rod for a missing glove box hinge pin. The other 2 hinges were slightly cracked so JB welded them for support.

Rear quarter panel trim - didn't have a metal clip aligned to its hole and pressed bending the clip and breaking it out of its epoxy. Was able to epoxy it back without removing the panel and it's fitting snug now.

All 3 clips broke on the driver a-pillar trim. Crap epoxy. Even after I dropped the dash because I can't fit the pillar in with the dash in the way. I think in later years instead of the a-pillar trim having 3 clips, it has tabs that slide in holes so you can install without dropping the dash. This JB epoxy and Gorilla epoxy are pretty weak...going back to JB Weld original. Going to omit the bottom clip as I'm not dropping the dash yet again. The middle and upper clip will have to do.

Had to do a lot of JB Weld on the headlight switch subdash and climate control board.... the subdash these attach to were shattered but found most of the pieces.

Have to rough up plastic surfaces with sandpaper to get good adhesion. When fixing subdash cracks, you not only have to fill the cracked part, but you need to strengthen all around the crack so a new crack doesn't form outside of where you've glued it back.

When needed to hold piece in place, used a combination of aluminum HVAC tape or plumber putty.

Found a tube of JB Weld PlasticWeld putty in a ziploc bag and it's still soft. Might give that a try for some of the bigger gaps I have left that are hard to fill with JB Weld original.

Just for the interior, wound up using 3 packs of epoxy (the type with 2 connected syringes) and a pack of original JB Weld. And a 1 oz bottle of original gorilla glue (to strengthen the plastic area behind the clips for the rear quarter panel trim and a-pillar trim.

Finding epoxy just too weak. One funny instance was I mixed the 5 minute epoxy inside, walked out in the sunny june heat and the epoxy started reacting and solidified from the sunlight before I even got to the truck... became scorching hot from the thermal reaction.

Sticking to JB Weld original for this kind of work. Should have just got the 10oz of original JB Weld for all this work. It sets very fast in a hot truck. Did the glovebox hinges 2 hours ago and feels really solid, but waiting til tomorrow to put the bezel and glovebox back in.

 

some pics






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Your steering wheel looks good! Mine has the leather coming off.